The local police claim to have busted an inter-state sex racket with the arrest of 32 people, including eight women, from a local hotel.

The local police claim to have busted an inter-state sex racket with the arrest of 32 people, including eight women, from a local hotel.

All women hail from Ludhiana district of Punjab and are aged between 22 and 32. The other accused hail from Dhami in Shimla district, Ludhiana, Haryana and Ganganagar in Rajasthan.

Shimla superintendent of police (SP) DW Negi said following a tip-off, a police team led by additional superintendent of police (ASP) Bhajan Dev Negi raided a hotel in Shogi, in the periphery of Shimla town, on Sunday evening, and arrested the 32 people on the charges of immoral trafficking. About Rs 80,000 in cash, 32 mobile phones and four vehicles were seized from the accused.

The ASP said the accused were produced in court on Monday and four of them namely Baljeet, Anil, Gopal Sharma and Balwinder Kaur had been sent in police remand while the other 28 accused were sent to judicial custody. He added that the possibility of an organised inter-state gang dealing in prostitution could not be ruled out.

A case under Sections 3, 4, 5 and 7 of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act has been registered.